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Start breastfeeding at 6 weeks

I have a six am old baby who was born via c-section after 25 hours of labor with no progress. I had planned to bf my whole pregnancy. I took classes and did research so I knew this was not going to be easy. Unfortunatly due to extremely bad anemia I had to have a blood transfusion and spent the fist few days in the hospital weak and extremely tired. I worked with a lactation consultant in the hospital and my baby latched a few times well. Unfortunatly due to my current physical condition I did try as hard as I should. I have pumped so I still have milk. When I hold my baby in my chest he roots toward my breast even though he has not been bf other than in hospital. I have tried to get him to latch but my nipples are not long like a bottle. He will put my nipple in his mouth but will not suck since he is use to having a mouth full if bottle nipple. What are my chances of nursing using a nipple shield since he is already 6 wks?

Re: Start breastfeeding at 6 weeks

Welcome! At just 6 weeks, I think you have an excellent chance of being able to restart breastfeeding. This is my favorite link on getting a baby back to the breast: http://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/child/back-to-breast/. The instant reward and skin-to-skin techniques are supposed to be especially useful. Nipple shields are cheap, so it makes sense to try one. If it works, awesome. If not, well, at least it's not a super-expensive product.